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VG247.comSat, 01 Aug 2015 21:19:19 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2Angry Birds 2 has already been downloaded over 1M timeshttp://www.vg247.com/2015/08/01/angry-birds-2-has-already-been-downloaded-over-1m-times/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/08/01/angry-birds-2-has-already-been-downloaded-over-1m-times/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 20:35:58 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=540214In what should come as no surprise to no person ever, Angry Birds 2 has already become a very popular game with mobile users.

According to Rovio, within the first 12 hours of release, the game was downloaded over 1 million times. See the tweet for yourself below.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/08/01/angry-birds-2-has-already-been-downloaded-over-1m-times/feed/0Fallout Shelter is coming to Android next monthhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/07/24/fallout-shelter-is-coming-to-android-next-month/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/07/24/fallout-shelter-is-coming-to-android-next-month/#commentsFri, 24 Jul 2015 18:47:56 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=539117Fallout Shelter will be released for Android next month, according to news out of QuakeCon 2015.

The game will also include all-new updates including the introduction of robotic companion Mr. Handy as a premium reward.

Players can use him to collect resources inside their Vault, send him to the wasteland to collect loot, or defend the Vault from creatures like Deathclaws and disasters such as Molerat infestations.

It will be made available for download on August 13 worldwide.

This update will also be available on iOS on the same day.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/07/24/fallout-shelter-is-coming-to-android-next-month/feed/0Nintendo US eShop update: 3D Streets of Rage 2, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, morehttp://www.vg247.com/2015/07/23/the-binding-of-isaac-rebirth-3d-streets-of-rage-2-eshop-update/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/07/23/the-binding-of-isaac-rebirth-3d-streets-of-rage-2-eshop-update/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 20:45:27 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=538930Nintendo has updated the North American end of the eShop with 3D Streets of Rage 2, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, and DK Jungle Climber on Wii U Virtual Console.

Full update is below.

eShop on Nintendo 3DS

3D Streets of Rage 2

Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria

Epic Word Search Collection

Fantasy Pirates

I Love My Cats

eShop on Wii U and New 3DS XL:The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

eShop on Wii U

Canvaleon

Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria

The Quiet Collection

Wii U Virtual Console: DK Jungle Climber

Nintendo eShop Sales:

Wii U and 3DS: Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse and Mighty Switch Force! 2 – On sale beginning at 9 a.m. PT on July 26 until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 2.

Wii U: Midnight is 50% off (reduced from $1.99 to $0.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 6.

Nintendo 3DS

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker is 20% off (reduced from $49.99 to $39.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 27.

Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D is 50% off (reduced from $9.99 to $4.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 6.

New themes this week include:

Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: Café Theme

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX

BOXBOY!: Qbby & Friends by Starlight

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/07/23/the-binding-of-isaac-rebirth-3d-streets-of-rage-2-eshop-update/feed/0Angry Birds is finally getting a real sequelhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/07/17/angry-birds-is-finally-getting-a-real-sequel/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/07/17/angry-birds-is-finally-getting-a-real-sequel/#commentsFri, 17 Jul 2015 03:34:39 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=537984Angry Birds has spawned any number of expansions and licensed spin-offs, but it’s time to evolve at last.

Angry Birds 2 will launch on multiple mobile platforms on July 30, Rovio has announced. The birds seem even angrier this time.

Few details have been released so far, with Rovio promising more information across its social media channels in the next few weeks. The game’s website will probably be the easiest way to stay on board. For now, here’s a teaser trailer.

Angry Birds has garnered some 3 billion downloads and become a worldwide phenomenon, which is why this is such interesting news. What does Rovio consider a worthy successor – and will it be able to do it all again?

According to the latest report from SuperData research, Bethesda’s first mobile title earned $5.1 million during its first two weeks of availability. And it’s not even out on Android devices yet. Just iOS.

June 2015 mobile revenue overall was up 4% over May and 20% year-over-year, hitting $367 million.

There was other good news for Bethesda: ZeniMax Online’s console version of The Elder Scrolls Online sold 138,000 digital copies during its release month of June. SuperData said sales of the MMO were enough to “temporarily buoy the contracting pay-to-play MMO market” by 7% year-over-year to $50 million.

Users will now be able to take photos of their experience and share it with others.

According to Bethesda, “Vault air filters have been causing some mothers to not deliver babies,” and this is an issue because one could suspect they’re holding the little grubbers in. That’s not very productive for the expansion of the human race. Nor comfortable we imagine.

Now, expectant mothers will deliver as originally intended.

Maintenance has also occurred on sudden Vault shut downs along with “other pesky issues with the capacitors inside various aspects of the simulation.”

Players are challenged to collect the most Happy Points by the end of a dynamic board game, and the board layout can remain the same, but the spaces and environment change, depending on which month players choose for their game.

As in other Animal Crossing games, players can buy turnips and use strategy to decide when to sell them for big money.

Scheduled to launch during the 2015 holiday season, Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival will launch as a bundle that includes the game, two amiibo figures and three amiibo cards.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/06/16/nintendo-e3-2015-animal-crossing-amiibo-festival-announced-for-wii-u/feed/0Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure, LEGO Jurassic World, more added to Nintendo US eShophttp://www.vg247.com/2015/06/11/eshop-us-downloads-lego-jurassic-world/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/06/11/eshop-us-downloads-lego-jurassic-world/#commentsThu, 11 Jun 2015 20:14:28 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=531914Nintendo has updated the North American end of the eShop with Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure, LEGO Jurassic World, and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town among others.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/05/01/brittney-spears-katy-perry-mobile-game/feed/0Former Xbox boss Don Mattrick steps down as Zynga CEOhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/04/08/former-xbox-boss-don-mattrick-steps-down-as-zynga-ceo/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/04/08/former-xbox-boss-don-mattrick-steps-down-as-zynga-ceo/#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 20:47:24 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=521342Zynga has announced CEO Don Mattrick, for Xbox boss at Microsoft, is leaving the company and will no longer maintain a position on the company’s board of directors.

Zynga’s founder and former CEO Mark Pincus will once again take over as CEO which is in the process of transitioning to the mobile space.

“I believe the timing is now right for me to leave as CEO and let Mark lead the company into its next chapter given his passion for the founding vision and his ability to couple our mobile progress with Zynga’s unique strengths,” Mattrick said in a statement provided to Gamasutra by Zynga.

Pincus told Re/Code he, the board and Mattrick “came to this [decision] together and it was super amicable.”

He continued: “but it’s been two years and we are still not winning as a company on the level we had hoped and think we can be. We need to move fast and we need to act a little bit more as a startup, by focusing more on entrepreneuring and speed than on structure and management.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/04/08/former-xbox-boss-don-mattrick-steps-down-as-zynga-ceo/feed/0This is what Crossy Road looks like in first-personhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/03/26/this-is-what-crossy-road-would-look-like-in-first-person/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/26/this-is-what-crossy-road-would-look-like-in-first-person/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 11:48:09 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=519738Crossy Road is fun and addictive. But in first-person, it’s mostly frightening.

YouTube user Andy Front Films likes Crossy Road so much he decided to show off what it would look like in first-person.

If crossing roads quickly and watching around for cars and trains, all of this as the camera chases you felt intense enough from an isometric perspective, wait until you see this video where everything is in first-person.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/26/this-is-what-crossy-road-would-look-like-in-first-person/feed/0Angry Birds dev profits falling off sharply – but not for the reason you thinkhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/03/19/angry-birds-dev-profits-falling-off-sharply-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/19/angry-birds-dev-profits-falling-off-sharply-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 05:55:41 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=518491Angry Birds developer Rovio saw a massive drop-off in profits over the past financial year. Has the mobile games bubble burst?

Nope.

No, mobile games are still goldarned minting it. Rovio reported revenue from mobile games increased 16% to €110.7 million. The company recorded 600 million downloads over the course of the year.

It’s everything else that’s fallen off – especially licensed merchandise. It looks like the kids are no longer buying Angry Birds plushies and soft drinks by the bushel.

“Sales of consumer by-products did not move according to expectations, and surely we are unsatisfied over the result of our licensing business,” chief executive Pekka Rantala said in a statement published by Reuters.

The result of this decline was a 73% decrease in operating profit in 2014 to €10 million. It was €36.5 million in 2013 and €76.8 million in 2012, so you can see there’s quite a pattern there.

Rovio can probably survive on mobile game revenue alone, but not on the astoundingly lavish scale of its heyday. Then again, the company tried dozens of games before it hit on the phenomenon of Angry Birds; maybe it can do it again.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/19/angry-birds-dev-profits-falling-off-sharply-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think/feed/0Unofficial Cards Against Humanity app arrives online and it’s freehttp://www.vg247.com/2015/03/13/cards-against-humanity-app-free/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/13/cards-against-humanity-app-free/#commentsFri, 13 Mar 2015 20:48:57 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=517673Party game Cards Against Humanity, or something akin to it, is available as an app for the exorbitant cost of free.

It also doesn’t step on the toes of Cards Against Humanity as it was developed under Creative Commons license, according to Engadget.

What such a license does, is allow anyone to recreate or distribute the property as long as they do not charge for it.

Cards Against Originality has the blessing of Max Temkin, one of the creators of the original card game stating:

“I’m glad that our fans have been able to take Cards Against Humanity and remix it into their own original things; that’s been a goal since we started working on our project.”

Like the actual party game, the app needs to be played in the same room as your friends, as it acts mainly as a vitual card deck in case you forgot to bring a set or you don’t own CAH.

It is also web-based, so it can be played on any device that accesses the Internet.

Cards Against Originality includes all of the content from Cards Against Humanity

For more on Cards Against Humanity, we detailed how the game is played back in 2013 when a UK-specific edition was released.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/13/cards-against-humanity-app-free/feed/0Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 is coming to Xbox One next monthhttp://www.vg247.com/2015/02/27/fruit-ninja-kinect-2-xbox-one/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/27/fruit-ninja-kinect-2-xbox-one/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 16:30:58 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=515023Halfbrick has announced Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 for Xbox One will release next month.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/24/plants-vs-zombies-2-update/feed/0Latest Grow Home update is live with new flora and faunahttp://www.vg247.com/2015/02/19/grow-home-update-pc/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/19/grow-home-update-pc/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 19:50:34 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=513837The newest Grow Home update contains rare flora and fauna on the alien planet.

M.O.M also has a new side quest for B.U.D, who needs to investigate the new additions.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/19/grow-home-update-pc/feed/0Contact with Curiosity winner dried up amid Godus development woeshttp://www.vg247.com/2015/02/11/godus-hubworld-curiosity-winner/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/11/godus-hubworld-curiosity-winner/#commentsWed, 11 Feb 2015 18:12:33 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=512330Bryan Henderson, who won 22Cans’ Curiosity game in 2013, has yet to receive the “life-changing” reward promised for opening the mysterious cube in the game.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Henderson found upon opening the cube a video featuring a email contact and of Peter Molyneux congratulating the winner, appeared.

Henderson said his cut, according to 22Cans would be 1% of revenue from Godus during his reign as “God of Gods,” a feature which hasn’t been developed yet.

He and a friend were even given an all expenses paid trip to the studio.

18 months after his experience, it looks as though Henderson will never be able to collect on the promise.

According to Henderson, after his visit to 22Cans, communication ceased.

“All I wanted to know was, when will it happen?” he said. “They couldn’t really tell me. They said it would happen when the game was finished.”

“I would have to email them first. After a month or two of winning, I would email them every month, purely because I expected more communication from them, but it wasn’t happening.

“I would ask, so, what’s happening? When am I going to find out more stuff? What’s going to happen, specifically? They were taking their time to answer. They would say, we need to do this first and tell you afterwards.

“Since I won and a year after, I would email them as a ritual thing, every month, just to get some kind of update. Eventually, communication [was] non-existent, so I’m not even going to try any more.”

In response to Henderson being left in the dark, Molyneux offered an apology, saying Henderson should have a formal contact at the company, and that it was “pretty shoddy for us to not keep him posted.”

“I totally and absolutely and categorically apologize,” said Molyneux. “That isn’t good enough and I’ll take it on my own shoulders that I should have made sure he was communicated with. We will from today onward do that.

“It’s just on a list. The trouble is, it’s very easy to forget about things that are further down the list when you’re so busy with things at the top of the list. I think it’s unfair on him. We should keep him posted. I will speak to him myself.”

Earlier this week it revealed that back in January, 22Cans designer Konrad “FuriousMoo” Naszynski wasn’t sure whether some of the promised features in the Early Access and Kickstarter project would make it into the full game.

“To be brutally candid and realistic I simply can’t see us delivering all the features promised on the Kickstarter page,” he said. “A lot of the multiplayer stuff is looking seriously shaky right now especially the persistent stuff like hubworld.”

A Godus community update followed, with both Naszynski and Molyneuz answering backer questions, with Molyneux stating there was a “catalog of things that I did badly and incorrectly because I had never done a Kickstarter campaign before…and [on] all of these things I made some horrendous mistakes.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/02/11/godus-hubworld-curiosity-winner/feed/0Digital pet Animin gamecards get May releasehttp://www.vg247.com/2015/01/23/digital-pet-animin-gamecards-get-may-release/
http://www.vg247.com/2015/01/23/digital-pet-animin-gamecards-get-may-release/#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2015 11:20:13 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=509143With AR being all the go, it might be worth checking out virtual pet Animin for iOS and Android.

Game-cards for Animin, the virtual pet for iOS and Android, are set to appear at UK retail this May, the developers have announced.

Plants vs Zombies 2 players can no longer listen to music (or any other external audio) while playing, apparently.

According to ModernDistraction, the latest update to the iOS version of the game even blocks the iOS quick menu audio option – so it’s not just a matter of one application closing another active one.

It seems like an odd thing to do deliberately, but given that playing music over other apps is built into iOS it seems like quite a difficult feat to achieve by accident.

That’s a bit of a shame for those who like to listen to music as they play. With respect to PopCap’s sound team that’s most of us, I’d imagine – especially while commuting, which is when a lot of mobile gaming happens.

No idea whether this applies to the Android version, unfortunately, and although I am committed to my job I am not downloading that life-eating app to check.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2015/01/14/sounds-like-plants-vs-zombies-2s-latest-ios-update-has-a-downside/feed/0Hearthstone is out now on Android tabletshttp://www.vg247.com/2014/12/16/hearthstone-is-out-now-on-android-tablets/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/12/16/hearthstone-is-out-now-on-android-tablets/#commentsTue, 16 Dec 2014 11:38:52 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=505492Blizzard has made good on its promise to release Hearthstone on Android tablets.

In a press release sent earlier, Blizzard confirmed that Hearthstone is now available on Android tablets through both the Amazon Appstore and Google Play. It’s available now in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with the rest of the world to follow in the coming days.

The Android version is identical to the PC and iOS versions and comes with the Goblins vs Gnomes expansion. If you download it and start one game in any mode, you’ll received a free Classic card pack. The game of course is free-to-play, with the option to purchase expansions and card packs.

“Hearthstone’s intuitive interface and approachable design make it a perfect fit for tablets, and we’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring players have a great experience on a wide range of Android devices,” said Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime. “We’re excited to welcome Android players to the Hearthstone community, and we’re looking forward to bringing the game to even more mobile platforms—including phones—in the future.”

Blizzard is still working on phone versions of the game, due out on both iOS and Android phones.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/12/16/hearthstone-is-out-now-on-android-tablets/feed/0The Witcher Adventure Game is out now as board game and digital downloadhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/11/28/the-witcher-adventure-game-is-out-now-as-board-game-and-digital-download/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/11/28/the-witcher-adventure-game-is-out-now-as-board-game-and-digital-download/#commentsFri, 28 Nov 2014 11:28:20 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=503138The Witcher Adventure Game, the board game based on The Witcher universe, has been released in both physical and digital forms.

The Witcher Adventure Game is a board game, available both physically and digitally, that is set in The Witcher universe. You can choose one of four characters from The Witcher games: Geralt of Rivia, Triss Merigold, Yarpen Zigrin, and Dandelion. The game involves quests for hunting monsters, earning gold and more, using 280 cards and 30 monsters.

The physical version includes figures of in-game characters. It’s available now on PC through GOG and Steam, Android and iOS.

Have a look at the digital version trailer and a few screenshots below:

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/11/28/the-witcher-adventure-game-is-out-now-as-board-game-and-digital-download/feed/0Men seem to prefer FPS over RPGs, while women prefer the latter – studyhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/fps-rpg-men-women-research-pc/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/fps-rpg-men-women-research-pc/#commentsTue, 28 Oct 2014 13:51:44 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=497943The latest report out of SuperData Research finds women are now the largest group playing RPGs, and when it comes to MMOs, two out of five players are females.

Men make up 46.5% of RPG players compared to 53.6% of females. In the MMO market, men are still the majority with 66%, but two of every five players are female, per Joystiq.

“Players between 18 and 30 account for 50% of the US MMO audience,” said SuperData in its report. “These players represent the largest age group, many of which started playing MMOs as children, during the segment’s early years, and have continued into their adulthood.

“This generation is expected to expand the older markets as they age since they are the first generation to have grown up with MMOs.”

By 2017, the firm expects MMOs to generate $13 billion, with League of Legends contributing $946 million to the figure.

Now on to mobile: 57.8% of players are women while 42.2% of males like enjoy playing as well. This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent playing Angry Birds, The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff on my Samsung tablet. I even play Farmville 2: Country Escape – and I am not ashamed to admit it.

The report also states 50.2% of ladies play on PC compared to 49.9% of men, which is a very small margin and includes social titles as well as other video game genres.

Male console players make up 63% of players compared to 37% of women, and the men are still the main FPS demographic with 66% of males playing the genre compared 34% of women.

While there isn’t an overly large disparity between the any of the figures, save for consoles and FPS games, the report shows more people are playing games than ever before, which is a good thing. The more mainstream it becomes, the more variety of titles we have to play.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/fps-rpg-men-women-research-pc/feed/0Plague Inc. downloads increase following Ebola spreadhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/plague-inc-downloads-increase-following-ebola-spread/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/plague-inc-downloads-increase-following-ebola-spread/#commentsTue, 28 Oct 2014 09:42:50 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=497877Plague Inc. is a mobile strategy game that simulates the outbreak of a virus. The game has received a massive 50% boost to its number of downloads on mobile stores as a result of the current worldwide Ebola panic.

Plague Inc. has been available on iTunes and Google Play for a while, but has only recently gotten a 50% boost in downloads following the increase in news coverage of the Ebola virus outbreak.

“This is the first time something in the real world has had an effect on the sales charts, especially since Ebola came over to America,” James Vaughan, the game’s developer told Polygon. “People are curious about it and want to know more about infectious diseases. Plague Inc. can play a role because it’s an intelligent look at how infectious diseases can spread.”

The game acts as a simulation of a deadly virus outbreak buy putting you in charge of spreading a virus across the world with the end goal being the elimination of the human race. The game utilises things like travelling, animals, etc.. as pathogens. It also gives you ability to alter the virus’s genetic code to counter natural conditions or human research.

You can give the virus any name you want, so other than the light-hearted uses we’ve all seen online, some could use it to try and simulate how a virus, in this case the Ebola, can spread.

“Plague Inc. has an audience of 35 million people who have downloaded it since the game launched. I want to help in any way I can, whether that is raising funds or raising awareness. I’m currently talking to major charities to see if Plague Inc. can be used as a tool to help in some way,” Vaughn added.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/28/plague-inc-downloads-increase-following-ebola-spread/feed/0Minecraft: Pocket Edition eventually coming to Windows Phonehttp://www.vg247.com/2014/10/11/minecraft-pocket-edition-windows-phone/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/10/11/minecraft-pocket-edition-windows-phone/#commentsSat, 11 Oct 2014 17:46:07 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=495423Minecraft: Pocket Edition will available at some point for owners of a Windows Phone.

According to a tweet from Mojang’s Jens Bergensten, it’s on the way, but it will probably be a bit of a wait.

“Yes, Minecraft: Pocket Edition is coming to the Windows Phone,” he tweeted. “The port runs already, but there’s still much to do before any release.”

Bejeweled 3 is now free to download for a limited time on Origin, you can head through the link or through your Origin client.

You have until October 28 to grab it, before it goes back to its original price.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/09/17/bejeweled-3-is-currently-free-on-origin/feed/0All of PopCap’s founders have lefthttp://www.vg247.com/2014/09/08/all-of-popcaps-founders-have-left/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/09/08/all-of-popcaps-founders-have-left/#commentsMon, 08 Sep 2014 02:19:23 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=490251PopCap co-founder John Vechey has left the developer, meaning none of the original founding team remains at the EA-owned studio.

PopCap Games was founded by Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka in 2000. Fiete left in 2010, prior to EA’s acquisition of PopCap, whereas Kapalka left earlier this year when former CEO Dave Roberts retired.

Vechey took over as CEO after Roberts, but his departure was announced over the weekend on the EA blog.

“John is a rare breed. His personal vitality and true passion for fun helped to define the spirit of PopCap and the games they make,” EA Labels presideent Frank Gibeau wrote.

“John’s leadership led to so many great things for PopCap, and he leaves behind a legacy of amazing games, powerful IP, and strong studio talent in place to lead the future of the studio.

“Working with people like John is what continues to make this industry great: creative, talented, and always a lot of fun. We wish him nothing but the best as he steps away from PopCap and EA to pursue his other passions in life.”

In a letter to his former colleagues at PopCap, Vechey said his recent sabbatical to get married and enjoy his daughter’s childhood gave him a new perspective, which has presumably inspired his departure. He will be working with a non-profit company and exploring “peace and social justice issues, such as war abolition, prison reform, poverty and the effects of race and gender privilege” while he works out what to do next.

Vechey reiterated his confidence in both EA and PopCap, noting his belief in EA CEO Andrew Wildon’s “vision of a company that puts its players first”.

“The best years are ahead for both EA and PopCap, and I look forward to watching development teams live up to what it means to be electronic artists,” he added.

Gibeau’s posted ended by mentioning PopCap’s mysterious “all new Peggle” again, so I guess this cryptic comment didn’t refer to the new mobile version after all.

PopCap’s catalogue also includes Bejeweled, Bookworm Adventures , Zuma, Plants vs Zombies and the long forgotten Insaniquarium. It also created a spin-off label called 4th & Battery, which has unfortunately not produced anything since the excellent Unpleasant Horse, Candy Train and Allied Star Police. None of them are on Android, curse it.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/09/08/all-of-popcaps-founders-have-left/feed/0Google does a bit of housekeeping by sweeping away clones of Swing Coptershttp://www.vg247.com/2014/08/23/swing-copters-clones-google-play/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/23/swing-copters-clones-google-play/#commentsSat, 23 Aug 2014 18:14:45 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=488250Google has taken the axe to a number of games cloning Swing Copters, the latest release from Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen.

It was reported earlier this week there were a number of clones on the Google Play Store, and while the storefront has been given a scrubbing, there are still a few copycats floating around.

The good news for Nguyen is that his game is now the first game shown, the clones are gone, and the remaining games – while similar – don’t seem to be using the exact same mechanics and assets.

Anyway, its nice to see Google cleaning things up a bit. Hopefully this little surge of housekeeping will extend to a good sweeping of the entire store.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/23/swing-copters-clones-google-play/feed/0Mobile cloning is completely, insanely out of handhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/08/22/swing-copters-flappy-bird-cloning-clones/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/22/swing-copters-flappy-bird-cloning-clones/#commentsFri, 22 Aug 2014 04:29:17 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=488076Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen released his new game, Swing Copters, earlier this week – and it has already been cloned dozens of times.

Chekc out the image below, posted on Twitter by GameMob_. The real Swing Copters is in the second row – fourth game along.

The one with the sexy lady in the pic – argh! the one called “Swing Bird”, combining both titles – man!

But seriously – there’s derivative development, and then there’s cloning to make a fast buck off someone else’s work by way of consumer confusion.

It’s incredible that Apple and Google let this sort of shit go on. It’s a major contributor to the decreasing sustainability of mobile development and the inability of regular users to find decent mobile games amidst the slush.

Copyright and trademark law is riddled with holes and often hurts genuine creators rather than protecting them – and it’s clearly not working. It’s situations like this that result in King trying to trademark the word “saga”, you know? To invoke a cliché, this is why we can’t have nice things.